Bangladeshi blogger is hacked to death for speaking out against religious fundamentalism

For the second time in a month an internet blogger has been hacked to death by assailants using machetes in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. The family of Washikur Rahman were visibly distressed when they visited the mortuary where his body had been taken. Police have arrested two religious students who were caught near the scene of the murder. They are said to have admitted to seeking out Rahman and following him before launching their attack in a busy street. In February a US-based blogger Avijit Roy was also hacked to death while returning with his wife from a book fair in Dhaka. In recent years, religious militants in Bangladesh have targeted secularist writers while the government has tried to crack down on hardline Islamist groups seeking to make it a Sharia-based state. #Bangladesh: Horrifying murder of blogger who was hacked to death must be wake-up call! http://t.co/ipzILdygNJ pic.twitter.com/hqjUVmEUKO— AmnestyInternational (@amnesty) March 30, 2015